Guest Writer "Shadow"

Vickie wanted me to be sure to thank all of those special people that have been helping us out with the medical bills, the care and feeding of all the strays that have found their ways to our place. She says some of you have been so wonderful and so helpful and she is just very very great ful for your help, love and kindness.

I feel so lucky every day that I have a forever home and that I will never have to worry about what will happen to me tomorrow. I sure wish that every person and animal on this beautiful earth were as blessed as me. Thank goodness for people like you who are always thinking of ways to help out. So thanks from Vickie and a special big ol sloppy lick on the face from me and Betty, Tristy, Scrappy, Abby and all the other stray or homeless little ones out there.

so we are having so much fun with guest writers that I am going to let you all hear from my fourlegged cousin (I don't know if cats and dogs can be cousins or not, but we are somehow family related through vickies Sisters daughters daughter......) Boy that even confuses me.

So here is a short note from my friend Shadow........

Hello everybody-

My name is Shadow George Thomas and I live in Vermont. It is beautiful here, with lots of birds to chase, kids to play with, and new smells everywhere. I was born in October and moved into the Thomas household just after Thanksgiving. What a lot to be thankful for- I not only get my own bed, but when I pee in it- I only get a time out. I also get food twice a day in my bowl- though I try to sneak some more food all the time-and when I get caught on the table. . . I get another time out.

I am used to looking out the window and seeing all this beautiful white snow, but as the sun that filters in through the window is getting stronger, the snow is melting and leaving behind yellow grass that the family loves to go run around on. It's really funny to see them all out there playing monster chase or ring-around- the rosies. Tonight they even built a little fire in the backyard. It looked like a lot of fun to be out there- I was so mad that I didn't get to be with them, that I pooped in the bathroom . . . and got a timeout.

I live with the cutest little girl who loves me very much. She loves to carry me around by my belly and use me as a pillow. Her little brother likes to get my jingle bells out and roll them around for me and when they finally get tired and go to sleep, I get to sneak into the mom's arms and purr so loudly that she has to turn the sound up on the tv and then . . . I don't get a timeout.

Yes, I am one lucky kitty.

Shadow

And now just for the fun of it, some more of my favorite pictures from last year. Actually I never did get to meet the little lady in the picture above, but Vickie says she is quite the character. She is lopsided, her tongue hangs out while she is sleeping and sometimes it gets stuck to the ground. when she wakes up she has to slobber for a few seconds to loosen it from the floor. Vickie misses her since she passed away a bit before I moved in.

Of course there is my favorite time and place and that is SUMMER in the mountains with HOT DOGS, Fruit, tomatoes, onions and other things. Chips ect...... I cannot wait until SUMMER finally gets here and we can go up in the hills again.

THese are deer. I am not allowed to chase them or run and play with them. I was kind of mad at Vickie about that, but truth be told, I don't think I could ever catch up to them anyway. They run pretty fast and they never let me get very close. Usually I just get to go and smell the ground where they were when we first saw them........

Birds, I love birds. I watch them in the front yard all the time. They are really fast. Not fast enough for Abby though. She can sit for hours in the front yard. I guess the birds think she is a statue so they get closer and closer to her as they look for food. Then when one innocent sweet little bird gets a little too close, Abby the statue comes to life, flying through the air and before the sweet bird knows what happened, it is talking to its dead uncle Fred in another life.

Vickie does NOT want me to get that quick....EVER....

So here is a little gal, that I really wanted to befriend. She was slowly wandering through the hills nibbling on branches and leaves close to the ground. She seemed pretty social so Tucker and I went up to say hi. Tucker was there before me which I now think is a good thing because just as he reached down to say hi to her, I heard him cry out in pain, then turn and run from her.

Well, I am not stupid so I went after Tucker to see what had happened and what had scared him.

It was very sad, he was really hurting and he had these long pointy needle like things coming from out of his nose and face. It took John a good amount of time to pull them all out and Tucker was a whimpering all the time. I felt really bad for him and decided that as cute and shy as this little gal looked, I was not going to be that anxious to meet her or any of her friends ever again.

Lots of times when we are hiking around, we see these little guys. They are pretty shy and don't let me get too close, but on this day, Vickie had some nuts in her pocket. We sat down and she started throwing them towards the little guy. After a minute or two, he came up closer to the thrown nuts and started eating them. Vickie wouldn't let me move, she made me just sit there and watch but it was kind of cool anyway. But one day when Vickie isn't looking you can bet, I am goin to try and catch one of these little guys. Don't know what I will dow with it if I catch it, but I am gonna catch him.
Not only does this guy have a long neck, but he has a mean little kick on the end of that beak of his. I was just minding my own business down by the pond when he started hollering and screaming while running straight towards me.

I don't even know what I had done to make him so mad, but I am smart enough to know that when a crazy critter starts running towards you, wagging his long ol neck up and downward, well the smart thing is to leave the area......LEAVE IT FAST.

I wasn't quite fast enough and he got me one good time on my behind. You can be that will never happen again.....

And finally a parting shot of a young moose from last fall. I cannot wait until we get to go watch these giants again this year. Last year Tucker got to play a game with a young moose, but Vickie wouldn't let me play.

They were having a great time playing tag....still Vickie would not allow me to join in. She said that I never would be able to play with one, no matter how much I want to so I guess I better just learn to be happy watching them from afar.

Nite everyone.

Love

Bert